


Slytherin Art Contest

by Garythesnail00



Series: Misadventures of the Slytherin Common Room [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bad Ideas, Canon Compliant, Don't Examine This Too Closely, Draco Malfoy and his insane plans that never work, Draco Malfoy is Not Amused, Draco Malfoy is a Little Shit, Dramatic Draco Malfoy, Gen, Hogwarts Fourth Year, Humor, One Shot, Origin of Potter Stinks badges, Ridiculous, Slytherin, Slytherin Common Room, Slytherins Being Slytherins, Sorry Draco, he just puts bullying Harry Potter over the well being of his friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:13:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29980629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garythesnail00/pseuds/Garythesnail00
Summary: Slytherins don't usually draw, but when they do, it's because they want to ruin the reputation of a certain Gryffindor who has eyes the color of a Fresh Picked Toad.We all know the story of how Draco Malfoy created and mass produced those wonderfully creative "Potter Stinks" badges in his fourth year. But, there is more to a story than what meets the eye, and what we don't know is the literal blood, sweat, and tears that went into creating that artistic masterpiece. One Shot
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy & Pansy Parkinson
Series: Misadventures of the Slytherin Common Room [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2171871
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Slytherin Art Contest

The Triwizard Tournament was the main source of conversation throughout Hogwarts as of late. Ever since the Goblet of Fire had spewed out those names, the student body had been buzzing with excitement and anticipation. The oddest and most interesting part of it all, though, wasn't the revival of a dangerous game from years past, but was the fact that this year the Triwizard Tournament had, not three, but four competitors. And, of course, it was only expected that the fourth competitor, was none other than the famous Harry Potter. 

The Slytherins were all sulky and unhappy that neither of the Hogwarts champions had come from their house. (Warrington hadn't left his dormitory for days after he wasn't picked.) While most of the Slytherins may take to complaining about this injustice every once in a while, there's no one who complains louder than Draco Malfoy. 

Draco Malfoy was angry. It wasn't even the fact that a Slytherin wasn't picked that angered him as much as the fact that Harry Potter, of all people, was picked.

Draco was sitting in a far corner of Slytherin Common Room with Blaise as they both worked on their Potions essays. Potions was a fairly mindless subject, as not only was Draco good at it, but Snape also favored him, and this fact alone guaranteed him an Acceptable at least. The mindlessness that was writing a Potions essay made doing so quite boring, but on the bright side, it also made it the perfect time for Draco to complain about Harry Potter. 

"It just isn't fair! How did bloody Potter manage to get picked for the Tournament?" Draco asked, scribbling on his parchment aggresively. 

"I don't know, Draco," Blaise answered in a bored tone, writing away. 

"It just doesn't make any sense! It's not like Potter's smart enough to get past the age line. So how did he do it?" Draco ranted, sounding so very irritated.

"I don't know, Draco," Blaise repeated, dutifully. 

"And even if he did somehow manage to get past the line, why would the Goblet choose him of all people? He's not even anything special. I mean, what's he have that I don't? Certaintly not parents," Draco smirked viciously at his own joke. "But seriously, Blaise. What's he have over me, I mean really?" 

"I don't know Draco." 

"You know what I think? I think Dumbledore has been pulling the strings again. He just had to have his golden boy at the center of attention, like always!" 

"I don't know, Draco." Blaise was fully aware that his response made no sense in context to what Draco had just said, but Draco was, of course, too busy to notice. 

"Potter always gets everything he wants! It just isn't fair!" Draco dug his quill so furiously into the parchment that it tore through the center of it, ruining his work. At first Draco was annoyed to have to start over on his essay, but after examining the parchment more closely and realizing that he had unconsciously written Potter's name on it about a hundred times, he decided that it was for the best. Draco crumpled the failed attempt at an essay in his palm, and threw it over his shoulder.

"I don't know, Draco." 

By this point, Blaise was purposefully trying to annoy Draco. Draco turned an unamused glare towards the boy. "Are you even listening to me Blaise? Do you not care that Potter's attention seeking schemes are working?"

"Draco - go ahead and whine about Potter all you like," Blaise said, finally. "It won't change anything." 

This made Draco freeze. He paused, staring at Blaise for a long moment, before saying, "You know what? You're right."

Blaise's eyebrows shot up his forehead, astounded that Draco actually knew those two simple words. "My, my Draco. Finally got some sense, have you? I must say, I'm impressed."

Draco completely ignored Blaise, staring at some invisible point behind him, as a small smile forced its way upon his pale face. "If I want something to change," Draco spoke softly, as if he only meant himself to hear it. "I'll have to do something about it."

Blinking twice, Draco turned and met Blaise's eyes. Blaise promptly groaned, as he saw the dangerous spark in Draco's eyes that always appeared when he hatched an idea. While there was nothing inherently bad with having ideas, Blaise Zabini knew Draco Malfoy long enough to know that Draco's were always awful.

"I spoke too soon," Blaise said, mournfully. "You're completely off your rocker." 

"I'll do something about this alright," Draco announced, firm determination present in his voice. "And I know exactly what." 

Blaise merely stared at Draco, shaking his head silently. He knew there was no point arguing with the blonde boy, because once he got an idea in his head - no matter how stupid - nothing could stop him from going through with it. Blaise supposed that Draco was in Slytherin for a reason. 

"Don't you want to know what my plan is?" Draco asked, frowning at his friend.

"No," Blaise said at once. "I don't encourage insanity."

Draco shot Blaise a nasty look, before standing up and brushing off some invisible dirt from his robes. Running a hand through his hair, Draco told Blaise he would return shortly, before striding off to his dormitory. 

He burst into his dorm room, and rolled his eyes when he saw Crabbe and Goyle each laying on their beds, despite it being nearly noon. Walking in between their beds with determination, Draco clapped his hands loudly and spoke, "Wake up!" 

Crabbe gave a grunt but neither he nor Goyle budged. 

Draco wiped his hand down his face in frustration. "Wake up!" he repeated.

That did it. Crabbe and Goyle both shot straight up, looking around wildly. Draco put his hands on his hips and looked at the two of them sternly, as if he were a disapproving teacher. "Honestly, you two sleep like corpses." 

"Wha...?" Crabbe yawned stupidly, rubbing at his eyes. 

"Crabbe - I need something from you," Draco said in a tone that was casual and yet showed he meant business at the same time. 

"Yeah?" Crabbe asked.

"Is that pathetic Christmas gift your mother sent you a few years ago still under your bed?" Draco asked, crossing his arms. 

"The stuffed snake?" Crabbe asked. Draco scoffed at the reminder of the snake toy. Crabbe's mum really was bad at buying gifts for her son. It had become a running joke in Slytherin house, as year after year Crabbe would receive useless, embarrassing presents from his mum that did nothing other than occupy space under his bed.

"No, the other one-" 

"Oh," Crabbe began to nod, as he caught on to the particular gift Draco was referencing. "The art supplies, right."

Draco nodded his approval. "Yes, get it out, Crabbe. It appears it will have a use afterall."

Crabbe looked at Goyle in confusion, but Goyle just scratched his nose. Crabbe shrugged and went to retrieve the supplies. As Crabbe searched furiously through the mess under his bed, Draco turned towards his own bed. He knelt beside it and reached his hands underneath it, pulling out a large, cardboard box. 

Inside the box were heaps of blank badges and pins, all of which his father had bought him the previous summer. Draco wasn't exactly sure how he'd use the badges when he first got his hands on him, (though he always assumed it would involve bullying Harry Potter) but now it looks like the perfect opportunity has presented itself.

Draco reapproached Crabbe just as he pulled out a box, not unlike the one Draco had, full of different magical arts supplies including Color-Changing Paints, and Every-Size Brushes. Pleased, Draco nodded towards Crabbe, but not before his eye caught something strange. 

"What's that?" Draco asked, pointing towards a small, opaque jar that stood out amongst the mostly clear containers of art supplies. 

Crabbe and Goyle exchanged a meaningful look, and Draco scowled, not liking the thought of them keeping something from him. Draco reached over and swiped the jar from the box, ignoring the way Crabbes eyes bulged out as he did so. 

Draco didn't hesitate to open the jar, though in hindsight he wish he had, because its contents made him let out a small scream and throw the jar away from him. 

Crabbe dove and caught the jar, before anything could spill out of it, while Draco watched Crabbe in horror. "What the actual hell Crabbe?"

Crabbe opened his large mouth, but was interrupted as it was in that very moment that Blaise Zabini entered the room.

"Blaise you won't believe what Crabbe's been keeping under his bed-" Draco began in a rush, his voice trembling slightly.

"I just came in here to grab my Charms book, I could do without the monologue," Blaise said, trying to shut Draco down before he could even begin speaking.

"It's disgusting Blaise! It's just foul!" 

"Sorry to break it to you, but I really don't care."

"You'd never expect Crabbe to possess something like this! Goyle, possibly - but Crabbe?"

"I'd rather feed myself to the Giant Squid then bear this conversation any longer."

"Blaise!" Draco paused, and Blaise stared at Draco for a moment, just long enough to let Draco speak. "Crabbe's got a jar of-" 

Draco broke off with a shudder, looking throughougly repulsed. 

"A jar of teeth."

Blaise's resolve to ignore Draco didn't seem to be working for him very well. His eyes widened, and his mouth twisted in disgust. "Teeth? Who's teeth?" 

"I don't know!" Draco groaned and shook his head, trying to recollect his thoughts. "Crabbe, Goyle. Just...get out of here. I need to speak to Blaise now. Alone." 

Crabbe and Goyle both jumped to their feet and fled the room, looking pleased at the opportunity escape.

Once the two of them were gone, Blaise couldn't help but shoot a morbidly curious glance towards Crabbe's bed. "What else do you reckon is under there?" 

Draco gave Blaise a look that told him to drop the subject. Any more talk of teeth and Draco just might hurl. Clearing his throat pointedly he asked, "Are you ready to hear my plan now?"

"No."

"Great," Draco clipped, quickly showing Blaise the contents of his box; A heaping pile of badges. "My plan is to make Anti-Potter badges for the Tournament! Anything to take that git down a notch." 

"Wow," Blaise drawled sarcastically. "And will this plan turn out just as well as your last plan?"

Draco flushed slightly at the offhand reminder of the incident in his previous year, when he tried dressing as a Dementor to scare Potter, but ended up losing an ungodly amount of house points and gaining a Detention. Sometimes, in the dead of night, Draco still wakes up in a cold sweat recalling the smug look that Blaise wore after Draco's plan failed, just as he predicted. Draco made a vow to himself, to never allow Blaise to wear that infuriating expression again.

"This is different," Draco said firmly. "We won't get in trouble, because we can pretend that we're only supporting Cedric Diggory. There's nothing wrong with that is there? And if our campaign just so happens to hurt Potter's delicate feelings, well then that's his problem!" 

Blaise made a humming noise at Draco's idea. "And since when do you support Hufflepuff?"

Draco threw a half-hearted glare in Blaise's direction. "Anyone's better than Potter, Zabini. Anyways, the only thing I have left to do is come up with a design and slogan for my badge campaign." 

"How are you going to do that?" Blaise asked, staring doubtfully at the blank badges. "You're not creative."

"Don't ever underestimate me, Blaise," Draco said, warningly, his eyes flashing at the insult to his originality. "Anyway, it's not like you have any ideas."

"Why don't you just make a badge that says, 'Support Cedric Diggory - The Real Hogwarts Champion?'" Blaise suggested immediately. "It's simple and to the point." 

Draco scoffed, rolling his eyes, as if this idea was ludicrous. "Oh, please. That would be far too civil, Blaise. It wouldn't humilate Potter at all! No, I need something better. Something that will really piss him off. And I think I have the perfect idea." 

"Oh?" Blaise raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. 

"Call a meeting, Blaise," Draco said, a sinister smile crossing his face. 

"A meeting? What are you talking about? I'm not your secretary," Blaise protested, crossing his arms over his chest. 

"You know what I mean! Just call everyone together in the Common Room," Draco exclaimed, gathering the two boxes in his arms and storming from the room. 

XXX

"I have gathered you all here today for a very important opportunity," Draco spoke, addressing the room at large. It had been an hour since Blaise had called for a 'meeting,' and all the Slytherins were gathered, sitting on armchairs and couches, listening to Draco's speech. Their attentiveness varied from Pansy Parkinson, who was sitting at the very front, closest to Draco, and was leaning forward with great interest, to Blaise who was sitting towards the back of the room, looking extremely bored. The other Slytherins fell somewhere in the middle of this attentiveness scale. Draco continued. "You all know of the problem; Potter. He was chosen by the Goblet of Fire to compete in the Tournament! How unfair is that?" 

A few of the Slytherins murmured half-heartedly. While they didn't like Potter, their feelings were not nearly as strong as Draco's. 

After a second of silence Pansy Parkinson jumped to Draco's aid. "So unfair! Potter isn't even seventeen!" 

"Exactly!" Draco said, indulging in his outrage for a momet. "I've called you all here, because I think it's about time we put Potter in his place!" 

"Yeah!" Pansy yelled in support, while the others merely shrugged in indifference. 

"Now," Draco said, pacing the length of the common room as he spoke. "I will be telling you exactly how we will be doing this, shortly, but first allow me to read a short poem I wrote to highlight the situation." Draco stopped pacing in the center of the room and pulled out a long piece of parchment from his pocket. He cleared his throat loudly, before reading it out loud; 

"Roses are red  
Violets are blue  
I hate Potter  
And so do you 

Potter is so annoying  
And so rash  
In my eyes  
He is the human equivalent of a traincrash

Why did the Goblet choose Potter?  
With the stupid scar on his head?  
It is so unfair  
It should have picked me instead!

Potter's eyes, let me tell you  
Are a very unique color  
They are as green as a fresh pickled toad  
And alike no other

I hate those stupid eyes  
But I hate his hair too  
It's as dark as a black board  
And when I see it I say "Boo!" 

Potter defeated the Dark Lord  
His parents are dead  
He's my worst enemy  
And did I mention the scar on his head? 

And another thing I hate  
About his stupid, ugly face-" 

"Alright already!" Blaise yelled from the back of the room, interrupting Draco's poem. "We get it, you hate Potter, but can you please just wrap this up?" 

Draco made a nasty face at Blaise, yet he folded the piece of parchment up nonetheless, shoving it in his pocket. "Fine. Obviously, you people don't have any appreciation for the fine arts. Whatever, it doesn't matter. What I was getting at is that I came up with an idea to simultaneously intimidate Potter and support Diggory for the Tournament. But I need everyones help if this is going to work." 

"Here we go," Blaise mumbled under his breath so Draco couldn't hear him.

"We need to come up with a creative slogan and design to put on these badges, so I thought that each of you can create your own and then I will decide on the best one to mass produce. It'll be like a contest," Draco explained, pointing to the boxes of badges and supplies. "And whatever you decide to make, be sure that it is mean enough to really mess with Potter, but at the same time make it civil enough so the teachers will see it as nothing more than a badge to support Diggory."

Draco paused for a moment to allow his words to sink into the heads of his peers.

"Now Pansy," Draco called, addressing the dark haired girl in front of him. 

"Yes, Draco?" Pansy asked, perking up slightly.

"Pass out these badges, one to everyone," he said. Draco watched as Pansy jumped up from her seat and began doing exactly as Draco said. "Now, I will give you all ten minutes to use your artistic skills to create your badges. And make them good. I won't stand for any coloring outside of the lines, or stick-figure drawings." 

"Only ten minutes?" A third year - Astoria Greengrass - dared to ask. "How do you expect us to get all this done in ten minutes?" 

"You're wasting valuable time," Draco warned, and was pleased to see the girl bite her tongue.

Looking around the room at the still Slytherins he snapped, "What are you waiting for? Begin, all of you!"

With that final word of instructions, Draco sat himself comfortably in a green arm chair, and watched as the Slytherins scrambled around to create their badges before the time limit ended. Draco was pleased to see that even Blaise seemed to be working on something. In fact, everyone in the room seemed to be working on something or another, whether they were coloring furiously or dousing the badge in glitter. 

Draco wasn't a sentimental type in the slightest, but even he could appreciate the beauty of the scene before him. The way that so many different people can come together to create artwork when they all put their mind to it was simply beautiful. Although they've all had their disagreements in the past, it was nice to see that they could find something in common, something they are all passionate about to bring them together. The best part is that their something in common was, in Draco's opinion, the most beautiful thing of all - bullying Harry Potter.

Draco scanned the faces of his House Mates, a feeling akin to joy filling him up. There was Goyle, who was red and out of breath from either coloring too agressively, or thinking too hard. Draco wasn't sure which, and he wasn't sure which would be better. Then there was Crabbe who seemed to be drenched in sweat from overexertion. Draco was seriously worried some of the sweat may drip off and soak the badge, but it put Draco's mind at ease to know that if it did, Crabbe would be paying for it. Then there was also Millicent Bulstrode, who was bleeding for some unknown reason. He scanned the faces of the others to find them in similar states, either sweating, or scribbling angrily, or bleeding, or in some cases sobbing pathetically under the stress of the time limit. Draco frowned hard. On second thought, perhaps the sight wasn't quite as beautiful as Draco originally thought - though the goal still was and that must count for something.

Before Draco knew it, ten minutes had passed by, and it was time for him to judge the badges that his fellow Slytherins had created. 

"Alright times up!" Draco yelled, watching as all the Slytherins rushed to add some finishing touches to their projects. "Quills down! That means you Greengrass!"

Draco glared at his classmates until he was sure they had all stopped working. Once he was he said, "I'll start by judging Blaise's." 

Draco strided towards the back of the room where Blaise was leaning on a chair causally, his badge resting on the table before him. Draco's eyes swept over Blaise's easy expression for a short moment before they landed on the badge he had designed. 

Blaise's badge was quite simple. It was plain black with nothing on it but the words, "Support Cedric Diggory - The Real Hogwarts Champion" in red ink. 

Draco blinked at Blaise's badge, before looking back at Blaise with disappointment. "Blaise, we talked about this! What part of bullying don't you understand?" Draco asked, his voice full of exasperation. "We are trying to ricicule Potter! This has nothing on it that would hurt Potter's feelings! There's no name-calling, and there's not even a causal jab at his dead parents! I can't work with this!" 

Blaise stared back at Draco blankly, clearly unaffected by his words. "Huh, that's a shame. Can I go now?" 

"Fine!" Draco bit out in a huff. Upon hearing that word Blaise stood up. "But just know, Blaise, your failure to cooperate only makes me less inclined to help you the next time you need help bullying a Gryffindor!" Draco called after him, but Blaise had already left the room. 

Grumbling under his breath, Draco turned to the person closest to him. Goyle was hunched over in his chair, hiding his badge from sight. Draco groanes internaly before asking, "Okay Goyle, it's your turn. Let me see what you've made." 

Goyle grunted, and shook his head quickly. "Nuh uh," he said. 

Draco rolled his eyes. "Goyle, just give me the badge-" 

"It's not done!" 

"I don't care if it's not done, just show me what you have!" 

"You won't like it!" 

"Give me the badge!" Draco yelled, his anger mounting. In one, swift, swoop Draco ripped the badge out of Goyle's hands.

Ignoring Goyle's protests, he looked at it, and immediatley scoffed. "What's this rubbish? This looks like a child made it!" 

On Goyle's badge was nothing but a very poorly made drawing of Harry Potter riding a broomstick. 

"This doesn't even look like Potter!" Draco complained. "The eyes are a completely off shade of green. I said they looked like a fresh-pickled-toad" not an- an old-marinated-frog or whatever offbrand color this is." 

Draco shook his head viciously, and continued criticising Goyle's badge. "And his hair isn't nearly messy enough! Although, I will grudgingly admit, I do admire the crosshatching you did on his sweater. And the shading of the broomstick- it's rather good. But other than that it's rubbish!"

"You didn't even read it!" Goyle said, looking very put-out. 

"Read it?" Draco asked, arching an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me these scribbles are supposed to be words?" 

"Yeah," Goyle said, nodding fast. 

Draco squinted at the badge for several seconds, before determining that it was impossible to read. "Okay, there's no way I can read this chicken scratch. What's it supposed to say?" 

Goyle jabbed one of his large, troll-like fingers at the badge. "It says, 'Potter is Bad.' 

After reading his writing, Goyle looked extremely pleased with himself as if he just scored high marks a test. He had a smug expression, an expression that was much to smug to belong on Goyle's face, in Draco's opinion.

Draco stared at Goyle blankly for several seconds before taking the badge and chucking it directly at Goyle's forehead. 

"Ow!" Goyle exclaimed clutching his head. 

"That's for wasting my time, and insulting my intelligence," Draco said smoothly, moving on to the next Slytherin without wasting another moment. "Okay Bulstrode, show me what you've made and it better be good!" 

"It is," Millicent assured, handing him his badge. 

Draco studied Millicent's badge for several seconds before saying, "Well, Bulstrode, it's very...abstract." 

"It is," Millicent confirmed. 

"And by abstract, I mean stupid," Draco said, sneering. "It's just a random blob of colors!" 

"It isn't!" Millicent said, frantically. Then pointing at various spots on the badge, he said, "I put some red there for Gryffindor, because Potter's in Gryffindor. I put some yellow there for Hufflepuff, because Diggory's in Hufflepuff. And I put some green there for-"

"Let me guess - 'for Slytherin because we're in Slytherin?'" Draco drawled in the middle or Millicent's explanation. 

"No, the green is for Potter's eyes!" 

"Ah, right. But that's still the wrong shade," Draco said, looking at the tacky green color with immense disappointment. "What part of fresh-pickled-toad don't you people understand?" 

Millicent hung her head in disappointment as Draco swiped the badge from her and blindly threw it across the room. 

"Ow!" Goyle yelled as the badge flew through the air and hit him directly in the face. 

"Next!" Draco called, hoping the next person actually tried to create a decent badge. Though knowing his peers, it was probably too much to ask for. "Crabbe! What've you got to show me?" 

Crabbe looked extremely excited to show Draco his badge. The boy was practically shaking in anticipation. 

When Draco layed eyes on Crabbe's badge, he did a double take. On it was nothing but a simple drawing of a snake attached to a skull; A Dark Mark.

"Crabbe!" Draco cried, shocked. "Why would you draw that?" 

"It's a Dark-" 

"Shush!" Draco said, hushing his friend. Lowering his voice, he began to explain. "I know what it is, you idiot! But you can't just draw that. People don't do that, Crabbe! What if the wrong person overheard us? What if someone told Dumbledore about it? We could be expelled Crabbe, or worse, the Ministry could get suspicious and decide to give our fathers a second trial!" 

"But you're dad was a Death Eater!" Crabbe shouted loud enough for the whole Common Room to hear, and, if someone was passing by in the corridor, they could probably hear as well. 

"My father was found innocent!" Draco shouted, stunned that Crabbe could say something so stupid even after listening to the speech Draco just delivered.

"But you said-" 

"Be quiet!" Draco hissed, ready to strangle his friend. "I know my dad was a Death Eater, Crabbe, but you can't just say that!" 

"Why not?" 

"Because Crabbe!"

"...Oh," Crabbe said. 

Draco let out a frustrated sigh, tugging on his hair. "Just go and hide the badge somewhere!" 

"Where?" Crabbe asked. 

"Someplace no one will ever find it," Draco said. "Under your bed."

Draco watched as Crabbe stood and walked out of the room, his Dark Mark badge in his hand. Letting out a long sigh, Draco turned back to the room. 

"Okay. Who's next?" he asked, feeling suddenly exhausted.

"Me!" Pansy shrieked eagerly, jumping out of her seat and shoving her badge in Draco's hands. "Ooh, I just know you're going to like mine the best, Draco."

Draco looked down at Pansy's badge for a long moment, before a small smile graced his face. "Is this-" 

"It's the poem you told us earlier!" Pansy interrupted, cheerfully, for on the badge was Draco's entire poem, written out in neat little letters. "I know Blaise didn't like it, but I did! And so I copied it all down on the badge in my super tiny handwriting!

"This is great, Pansy!" Draco said, grinning at the badge. "I mean, you just copied my work, so you aren't all that great, but I'm great for writing the poem in the first place." 

Pansy nodded happily.

"But, may I ask, what did you use for the letters? It's a very pretty red color, but it doesn't look like ink or paint," Draco said, paying special attention to the curious color used for the letters. The color seemed too dark and too thick than any supplies around. Perhaps, Pansy performed some sort of spell to enhance the substance. Draco nodded silently to himself, ready to accept this line of reasoning when Pansy spoke up again.

"Oh, that's blood," she said, shrugging. "I wanted a nice rich color for the letters, and I didn't have many options, so I figured blood would work well enough." 

Draco stared at Pansy, certain he had misheard her. "What?" 

"Blood," Pansy repeated. "Creative, isn't it?"

Draco paused, his expression carefully blank, despite his horror. "Who's blood?" he asked, very hesitantly. 

"Bulstrode's," Pansy answered like it was obvious. "I pricked her when she wasn't looking." 

Draco didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything, instead resigning himself to staring at Pansy in complete silence. 

"Draco?" Pansy asked, a hint of worry finally creeping into her voice. "Aren't you pleased?" 

Suddenly - so suddenly it made several people flinch - Draco began to yell, raising his arm and hurling the badge across the room, nailing Goyle right between the eyes. ("Ow!" he grunted.)

"I can't believe you made me touch something as foul as Bulstrode's blood!" Draco screamed, wiping his hands furiously on his robes. "I've probably caught a disease from that!" 

"I'm sorry Draco!" Pansy said, frantically. "I wasn't thinking-" 

"You never do, do you?" Draco snapped cruelly. 

Pansy opened her mouth to retort, but words seemed to fail her as tears welled in her eyes. She turned and fled the Common Room, sobbing loudly. 

"That's it! Everyone out!" Draco yelled, flipping out completely on the remaining Slytherins. He no longer had it in him to judge the badges, as he was sure they would all be just as bad if not worse than the ones he had already seen. "The contest is over. You all lose!" 

Scowling, and complaining amongst themselves, all the Slytherins stood and filed out of the Common Room, leaving behind the badges that they had finished but Draco hadn't bothered to judge. The only one who lingered, besides Draco, was Bulstrode, and she looked angry. 

"Hey, my blood isn't dirty!" Bulstrode claimed, highly offended. "I'm no Mudblood!" 

"And yet you're still riddled with germs," Draco sneered, crinkling his nose with great disgust. Bulstrode threw Draco a dirty look, before storming from the room as well. 

Exhaling loudly, Draco threw himself down in an armchair, resting his head in his hands. The contest had been a total disaster, and he was still recovering from his annoyance and disappointment. He rubbed his temples to sooth his newly developed headache. How could his brilliant plan have gone so very wrong?

It wasn't long before Draco heard someone enter the room and sit next to him, joining him in his silence. Somehow, Draco knew who it was without even looking up. 

"What do you want, Blaise?" Draco asked, his voice muffled slightly by his hands. 

"Have you picked your favorite badge yet?" Blaise asked, his tone light and mocking. 

"No, they are all equally terrible," Draco said, miserably. 

"Ah, I see," Blaise said, and he fell quiet for another short moment. "Well then, why don't you stop moping around and make your own?" 

"Because, Blaise," Draco said childishly. 

"Because you aren't creative?" Blaise offered. 

Draco lifted his head up and stared at Blaise, unimpressed. "You're not funny." 

"Oh, I disagree," Blaise said cheerfully. 

Draco frowned and huffed. 

"Well, if you aren't going to make your own badge, you'll have to pick one you've already seen. So, which one is it?" Blaise asked, and Draco could just hear the smirk on his face. 

Draco remained quiet for several long seconds before murmuring. "As I've said they're all terrible. I'm not sure I'll be able to choose." 

"Come on now, there must be one you like better than the others. So which one is it? Crabbe's?" 

Draco scoffed. "Yeah, right." 

"Goyle's then?" 

"No way!" 

"Pansy's?" 

"Oh shut it, Blaise." Draco then shoved Blaise, in a manner that was too hard to be playful, but not hard enough to be mean.

"Hm, well if you aren't choosing any of theirs, then there's only one option left," Blaise said, in a matter-of-fact way. "So, Draco. Who's are you choosing."

Draco mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Blaise asked, that obnoxious smugness radiating off of him.

"Well, considering everything, I suppose I will have to choose...yours," Draco said, his voice getting softer as he said the last word.

"I couldn't quite hear that," Blaise said teasingly.

"Yours," Draco snapped. 

"Mm, one more time please," Blaise said, shooting Draco an apologetic grin. "My ears seem to be failing me."

"I said I'll have to choose yours!" Draco shouted, glaring openly at his sorry excuse for a friend. "Even though it didn't insult Potter once!"

Blaise's smug expression only grew, making Draco groan. 

"Don't act so pleased with yourself," Draco snapped. "It's not like there was much of a contest. Your insult-less badge may have been the best one there, but it's still terrible."

"Why don't you just add an insult on it, if it bothers you so much?" Blaise asked, as if it were the most obvious thing ever. 

"Yeah," Draco said slowly, that dangerous spark begining to flicker behind his eyes once more. "That's not a bad idea. I could use magic to make the badge flash from your message to mine." 

"The only problem is, as I've said before, you aren't creative enough to think of an insult," Blaise stated.

"Yes I am!" Draco claimed, rising to the bait.

"Oh, yeah? What's your brilliant insult then?" Blaise crossed his arms, waiting.

"Um, how about...Potter Blows?" Draco suggested weakly.

"That's terrible," Blaise winced.

"Potter Sucks?" 

"That's even worse!"

"Potter Smells?" 

"Are you even trying?" 

"Okay, okay, I got it," Draco said, and with an air of finality he said, "Potter Stinks!" 

Blaise was quiet for a moment, before he nodded grudgingly. "I'll admit, that is slightly better." 

A pleased look formed on Draco's face. "'Potter Stinks' it is, then." 

Draco strode across the room and picked up Blaise's badge in his hand. He then tapped his wand to it and muttered a spell under his breath. A few minutes of tapping and muttering later, Draco let out a triumphant sound, and held up the badge, watching as it flashed back and forth from 'Vote for Cedric Diggory - The Real Hogwarts Champion,' to 'Potter Stinks!'" 

"Perfect," Draco drawled, admiring his own work. "And I even added a charm so that if you try to change the message, it will just say 'Potter Really Stinks!' How brilliant is that?" 

"Yeah, sure," Blaise rolled his eyes. "Now all you have to do is mass produce it." 

There was a pause. Draco had forgotten about that part. 

XXX

Draco was in the Slytherin Common Room, sitting across from Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle. A few hours had passed since the disastrous contest he had hosted, but the consequences of it seemed to still be in effect, if the purple bruises on Goyle's face was anything to go by. 

As Draco ranted to his friends about Potter and Weasley, as he always did, he noticed that Crabbe and Goyle nodded along to everything he said, while Pansy wouldn't even look at him. She had been acting cold towards Draco ever since he made her cry earlier. Draco frowned, forgetting Potter for just a moment. He certaintly didn't feel guilty for his actions, but he did feel that she had been mad at him for long enough, and that it was best for him to swallow his pride and get her on his side again.

"Pansy," Draco said softly, causing the girl to look up at him through her eyelashes.

"What?" she snapped, her lip curling. 

"Listen, I'm sorry for earlier," Draco said in a calming, genuine tone.

Pansy's eyes darted away from Draco's, not wanting to forgive him so easily, but finding it extremely hard not to.

"I'm really sorry," Draco said, biting his bottom lip just a little. 

Her lips twitched suddenly, and a small smile formed on Pansy's face as if she could not contain it any longer. "Really?" she asked.

"Really," Draco confirmed. 

"Okay," Pansy said, still smiling. "I forgive you." 

That was too easy. Draco smiled back at her, as an idea crossed his mind.

"Hey, Pansy," Draco said innocently. "Can I ask you something?" 

"You can ask me anything, Draco," Pansy said quietly, looking at Draco as if he were the most important person in the entire world.

"Will you mass produce my 'Potter Stinks' badges and hand one out to everyone in the school?" Draco asked in one breath. 

Pansy giggled the slighest bit, not really hearing what he said. "Oh Draco, of course I will!" 

"Great, I expect you will get it done by tonight," Draco said happily.

"Of course - wait," Pansy froze, as Draco's words registered in her mind, a moment too late. "No! Draco hold on just a minute-" 

"But you already agreed," Draco said with a smirk. "You aren't a liar, are you now, Pansy?" 

"B-but!" Pansy stuttered, before groaning in frustration. To highlight her anger, she scooped up a nearby 'Potter Stinks' badge and threw it across the room, hitting Goyle directly in the mouth. 

"Ow!" Goyle cried as a tooth flew out of his mouth upon impact. 

Draco watched as Goyle's tooth fell to the floor. He did not fail to catch the way Crabbe and Goyle looked at it and then eachother, nor did he fail to catch the muttered words they shared between them.

"Put it in the collection," Crabbe said in a low voice. 

Draco's eyes widened in understanding. "No!" he cried, as Crabbe swiped the tooth off the floor. "There will be no tooth-collecting where I'm concerned! Don't you - oh whatever." 

Draco sighed in resignition as Crabbe and Goyle bustled excitedly out of the room and to the dormitory. Shaking his head, Draco turned back to Pansy who was crossing her arms in surpressed anger. 

"Pansy," Draco started, and was shocked to see angry tears fill Pansy's eyes. Draco wasn't an idiot, nor was he suicidal, so upon seeing these tears he immediately backtracked. "No, calm down. Stop it, I'll - I'll help you with the badges." 

Pansy relaxed considerably, her tears vanishing and a small smile overtaking her face once more. "Thanks, Draco."

XXX

"Gemino," Draco repeated for the millionth time that night, watching as another 'Potter Stinks' badge multiplied itself in front of him. 

It was nearing midnight and Draco was in the middle of mass producing the Potter badges, with the help of Pansy, and Crabbe and Goyle whom he also managed to rope into helping him.

Draco tossed his newly replicated badge into a nearby box with the label 'Hufflepuff' on it. The plan was that they would deliver five boxes full of badges to each of the Hogwarts Houses, - besides Gryffindor of course - so that at least three fourths of the Hogwarts student body would be wearing the badges come Monday. 

While Draco was excited for the end result of his work, he was also very tired of multiplying badges. 

"Gemino," he muttered, tapping another badge with his wand. It multiplied, and he tossed the product into a box. 

Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle were all doing the same thing as Draco, multiplying one badge after another and tossing them all in a box.

Pansy chucked one badge into the designated 'Ravenclaw' box, and a small dust cloud came up as a result of the impact.

This wouldn't be a very big deal, had Crabbe not been sitting in the exact area the dust cloud happened to be, but he had been sitting there, so it was a big deal. Crabbe was in the middle of performing a 'Gemino' when he sneezed violently, so it sounded something like, "Gemin-achoo!" 

There was a loud bang and a flash of light. Apparantly, the 'Gemino' spell was sneeze-sensitive. Draco watched in pure terror as the badge Crabbe had been pointing at multiplied again, and again, and again. The spell would not stop, and soon enough the badges began to slip from the table and onto the floor, forming a dangerous wave of badges. 

"Let go of your wand, Crabbe!" Draco yelled, but Crabbe seemed not to hear him. He appeared to be in a state of shock, staring blankly as the badges multiplied like crazy, his wand clamped firmly in his fist.

Thinking on his feet, Draco rushed forward in an attempt to take Crabbe's wand, though a sudden burst of new badges, caused him to slip into the newly formed ocean that was 'Potter Stinks' badges. 

He struggled to stand back up before the badges buried him compeltely. He heard Pansy let out a shriek somewhere behind him, and he looked just in time to see her treading through the badges as well. 

Swimming in the badges, Draco made a wild grab at Crabbe's wand. He, unfortunately, missed and went sinking a few feet into the depths of the badge sea. 

Pulling himself back upwards, Draco, in a burst of energy, made another crazy leap to grab the wand. He let out a roar of triumph as his fingers curled around it. Draco instinctively snapped the wand in half, effectively breaking the curse. 

There was an instant air of relief in the room as the badges finally stopped multiplying. Though the relied was short-lived, as the four Slytherins were aware that they were still waist-deep in a giant pile of badges. 

"Crabbe you bloody idiot!" Draco seethed, throwing the broken pieces of his wand at him. 

"I didn't mean to-" 

"It doesn't matter what you meant to do! The fact is that the room is now overflowing with stupid badges! What do you think the others will say when they come in here tomorrow to see this chaos?" 

There was a hollow silence, as each of the fourth years wondered what would happen to them when someone found out they completely destroyed the Common Room. 

"Snape's gonna kill us," Pansy squeaked, addresing the impossible mess in front of them. 

"But Snape likes us," Goyle said. 

"Not when he sees what Crabbe did to the Common Room!" Draco shouted. 

The four of them began to bicker, argue, and shout, each desperate to pin the blame on someone other than themself. The noise only stopped when Pansy spoke up, "Oh shut it! Arguing isn't helping anything. We just need to start cleaning these up. It won't be too much work with four of us helping, right? We can just pack them all away, and give Hufflepuff a few extra boxes. It'll be fine!"

"A few extra boxes," Draco snorted derivesly. "By a few do you mean fifty?" 

"We're wizards," Goyle grunted. "We can just magic all the badges up!" 

"Wow, brilliant idea, Goyle! I once more am floored by your sheer intelligence! Which spell do you propose we use? 'Wingardium Badge-Disappear-O' or 'Avada Ke-DIE BADGE?'" Draco's voice reeked of sarcasm, though it was completely lost on Goyle. 

"We could use Fiend Fyre!" Crabbe offered eagerly. 

"We're not using Fiend Fyre," Draco said, sternly. "I just can't believe I'm going to spend the rest of my life cleaning up this mess." 

"It'll be okay, Draco. We'll do it together!" Pansy said with a sad smile. Draco merely sighed and began to clean.

The four of them worked through the entire night, but they still did not manage to clean it all up in time. Blaise was the first to enter the room the next morning, and his mocking laughter was something Draco hoped to never hear again. 

However, Blaise, while annoying, was nothing compared to Snape, who was, to say the least, angry when he saw the room. Luckily, Snape didn't like taking any points off from his own House, so they were spared from that embarrassment. But unfortunatley, Snape's choice of punishment for them was literal torture. Snape decided to make every Slytherin student work together to clean the room, without magic. Literal torture. 

The Slytherins who had no part in making the mess were so furious over the unfair punishment, Draco was worried they may actually murder Crabbe in his sleep. 

With the combined help of all the Slytherins, it took them nearly six hours to clean the entire room and even then, they were sure they missed a few badges here and there.

It would be years before the room was completely badge-free. In fact, Draco could imagine the very scenario in which a person from centuries in the future would discover one of the badges, and subsequently wonder who the hell Potter was, and why he didn't just take a shower. 

All in all, the badge fiasco was, well, a fiasco, and the fact that it occured on the same day as that disaster of an art contest lead Draco to believe that perhaps he just had bad luck.

Bad luck. That must be it. 

XXX

Draco layed in his bed that night, dreaming of things such as sunsets, kittens, and jars of teeth. But most importantly, he dreamed of Potter's stupid face when he would soon find everyone in the school wearing those 'Potter Stinks' badges. The events that took place on the journey to making those badges had been messy, to put it simply, and so it was going to be ever so pleasing to know that all of his hard work had payed off in the end.

Draco just couldn't wait to see those fresh-pickled-toad eyes light up with both humilation and anger. Draco smirked in his sleep. It would be a very pleasing sight indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this turned out fairly weird. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading. There will be at least one more installment to this series, and I will try to get it posted as soon as I can. Leave a comment if you want, and have a nice day.


End file.
